Shots
by Chaos Supernova
Summary: Glory is trying to sleep when a drunk Ben Mason stumbles into her tent by accident. This sets off a series of chain reactions leaving Glory, forever the random bystander, tangled with the Masons, the center of the universe. Stuff happens, some good, some bad, some life-changing.
1. I Am A Shoulder - Glory

Shots

ONE

I am a shoulder now.

"A shoulder to cry on." Well, I'm pretty sure he's crying on most of me. So therefore I am a shoulder.

I am sitting here as someone I barely know is having a mental breakdown. Just a regular Tuesday.

This guy – albeit cute, but still a near stranger – came into my tent. I said, "Wrong tent," and he said, "Oh. Sorry." Then I saw that he looked like he had been crying. So I said, "You wanna sit down?" and he told me, "That would be nice."

Now here I am, being the shoulder. I am proud of myself. One of my grandmother's embroidered pillows said "Reach out to ones in need, for they will reach out to you." (My grandmother has – had? – the 3rd largest collection of embroidered throw pillows in the world. All have sayings like such.)

He sits down, and I'm laying on my back, so he follows suit. Then he said, "I wish none of this ever happened," and I see the tears. I don't know what to do, so I roll closer to him and wrap my arms around him as best as I can, and instead of screaming "CHILD MOLESTER" at me like any sane person would do, he lets me.

So that's why he's crying into my chest and I'm running my hands over his back and I think this looks much, much worse than it actually is. It's nice, just to have another human being, especially a cute boy. I don't really have anyone, I'm just that random bystander you see watching the drama.

There's something on his back. Like...ridges. I look closer – it's hard in the dark – and I see that they're the spikes that the de-harnessed kids have. The only two de-harnessed kids that haven't had their spikes fallen out are Rick, that kid that's kind of creepy, and Ben Mason, middle child of the infamous Mason family. This boy is obviously Ben.

I've met Ben once, I think. I dropped my gun, because who am I kidding, I'm a fourteen year old girl that's never held a weapon other than a kitchen knife in her life. He smiled at me and told me how to hold it, and I smiled back and thought "He has a girlfriend, doesn't he?"

I think we're having a nice moment here when he pukes on me.

Wait. Hold up. Crying, getting into a tent with a random stranger, puking...this guy's drunk.

Which kind of sucks, because I really did think we were having a moment. And the fact that he looks fourteen. Since he's drunk and he probably won't remember a thing tomorrow morning, I calmly take off my vomit-stained sleeping shirt and roll him over – he's staring at me in disbelief – and pull on a thick, woolly sweatshirt.

I'll have to get the poor person on laundry duty to clean up the blanket that he's on. I try to gently pull him up. "Come on. Up you go."

He doesn't protest, and I can't help but wonder how I didn't realize he was drunk earlier. I mean, no person in their right mind would do...well, whatever that was. I put my right hand on the small of his spiky back and my left on his left shoulder to turn him where he needs to go.

We're on our way to Charleston, and we're camped out in an airplane hangar. Most people are in tents. Dr. Glass is in the med bus. I guide him to there, where it looks like she's finishing bandaging someone. Dr. Glass looks at Ben, then me, then where my hands are. She says a few more words to the patient, and the bandaged man gets up. She then turns her focus on us.

"Ben? What are you..." I have to use all of my strength to keep him up. I think he's falling asleep.

She turns to me. "I'm sorry, but what's your name?"

"Glory Marsh. And it's fine, I'm not really anyone. But...well, it's a long story, but he's drunk."

She raises her eyebrows. "What makes you say that?"

"He went into a near stranger's tent, had a mental breakdown, then puked on me. I'm about ninety percent sure he's drunk." His back arches beneath my hand. "Trashcan."

Dr. Glass, her eyes wide, takes Ben from me, and he heaves again into a trashcan. "Did you see him drinking?"

"No, but I've seen drunk people before, and this is pretty much a stage of drunk." I've only seen one person before, this guy coming out of a bar when me and my mom went to New York City. He screamed something about the end times and puked on the sidewalk. It was not pretty.

Dr. Glass sits Ben down on the sofa. He was pretty much out of it now. She shined a light in his eyes, ears, throat. "Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him. I'd say you're right, only that I have no idea why Ben would be drinking."

I shrug. "It's a war, Dr. Glass. Plenty of people are drinking their sorrows away. Especially him, I mean, with Jimmy and all..." I'm not a stalker or anything, but I'd heard that Jimmy Boland was the closest thing Ben Mason had to a friend, and I mean, with the spikes, the death of your best and only friend...that's gotta be something.

She purses her lips. "I wish you were wrong, but you have to be right, I can't think of anything else... Thank you, Glory." People have to get used to my name. What can I say? My mom was a die hard patriot.

I smile at her, but hesitate before I leave. "Just take care of him, okay?"

She smiles back. "It's my job."

 **Hello Falling Skies fandom! I have been a part of your fandom for quite some time now since I discovered the show, November, I believe? In that time my dad and I have watched 2 and a half seasons, and I have fallen in love with Ben Mason, along with the other Masons and everyone else. Since this is my first time writing for this fandom, there will most likely be some OOC-ness (out of character) until I can really learn to write them well. So please, bear with me. I'm also trying my hardest not to make Glory a Mary-Sue (perfect character) because it seems every Ben/OC story I read is horribly written and has a perfect, smart, beautiful female OC whom I can't help but hate. Please tell me if you think Glory is too perfect, because I will fix that!**

 **Feedback/reviews are welcomed and spraypainted rainbow!**

 **Nova**


	2. Everything Is Ugh - Ben

Shots

TWO

I don't know what I'm doing.

Don't you ever just think to yourself that you deserve _more_? Like, not in a power-hungry way, but just enough not to be drinking beer when you're only fourteen and the bruise on your back to stop hurting like hell and to get the voices out of your head and to just _end the pain._

I know all Hal and Dad want to do is help, but there's a point where your family just doesn't understand anymore. How could they? Do they know what it feels like to be ostracized and judged and feared 24/7 while in all honesty you're just a kid?

I never liked being called a kid before this all started, but now I'd gladly be young again.

Why am I doing this?

 _To escape,_ I think, answering my own question. And it's the truth.

 _Aren't there better ways to escape?  
_

I laugh bitterly, out loud. _Name one._

My conscience goes silent as I down the rest of the beer.

…

 _I'm sitting outside. Staring at the stars. Wishing we were the only ones in the galaxy. Someone stands next to me, and I turn around, ready to tell Matt or Hal or Dad or whoever to go away. "Shouldn't you be with the rest of the Mason brood?" Pope asks me._

 _"Can't sleep."_

 _"Oh, right, the Skitter thing, Coatrack." He eyes me, scrutinizing me. Nothing I'm not used to. "You look tired."_

 _"I am," I say, not meeting his eyes. "Tired of everyone being afraid of me. Tired of everyone hating me. Tired of life."_

 _He smirks at me. "Well, I've got just the thing for you, then." He pulls out a six pack of beer. Bud Light. He notices my skeptical expression and laughs. "Ain't gonna kill you. You wanna forget? This is how real men forget."_

 _Forget?_

 _It would be nice to forget._

 _Maybe just a taste._

…

I don't feel anything, and it's the most wonderful feeling in the world.

Everything's kind of blurry, and not just from the tears that I can't seem to stop, but I don't mind. I should probably get back to the tent.

It's somewhere around here, right? Maybe. I don't know.

I think it's that red one. Or was it black? I don't remember. I don't really remember anything. I'm just here.

It's that one, that dark green one, I know it is. (Probably.) I lift the flap. Wait, that's not Hal, Dad, or Matt. It's a girl. A girl with dark, wavy hair, is in the tent, staring up at me. "Wrong tent," she says.

"Oh. Sorry."

She eyes me. I can't really see much of her in the dark. "You wanna sit down?" 

I think about it. Then I think, don't think. "That would be nice."

I sit next to her. She smells like fresh laundry, something I never thought would smell good, but it does. It reminds me of home. What was home. Mom doing laundry and shouting at me to get off my computer and Hal to get back here and for us to put away our laundry. 

I'd do anything to get her back. All of us would.

Something wet is on my face. Oh. Right. Crying. Ugh.

She wraps her arms around me, and the fresh laundry gets stronger, and she's warm, and it feels nice, and _it's depressing._ I think I'm crying harder now, and I'm genuinely surprised she doesn't mind. Her hands run over my back, it's gentle, I feel like I could fall asleep right now. They go over the spikes. Her head falls against mine.

Ugh...

I feel like I'm swimming in dreams and the world is spinning and my stomach feels like it's being ejected out from my chest and _god it's painful_. Ugh ugh ugh.

The girl pushes me over and the world goes into a frenzy and ugh ugh ugh everything looks weird. I look in her direction and her shirt's off yet and I think _damn, shouldn't have done that._

She pulls me up. Her hands are small and slender compared to mine. I guess that's the thing with girls, they're just so _delicate_. I know girls hate to be called that, but it's true. They just can't see it.

Everything is weird and spinning and I don't think I'm upright but she steadies me. I can't really see anything but I trust her and I think I see Anne's face. Maybe.

"Ben? What are you..." a muffled voice says. Spots of black begin to appear at the sides of my vision.

 _UGH_ more world-spinning...my stomach comes to my throat and I lean over what I think is a trashcan. Ugh.

Anne sits me on the couch and shines light in my face. I blink and pull back a little, but she pulls me forward. I frown.

The girl smiles before she leaves. Anne kisses my forehead and tells me to get some sleep.

 **Maybe some reviews?**


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